Git Clone Is Just The Beginning
Claude Code has fundamentally transformed how I interface with repositories.
The Old Workflow:
What's Now Possible:
With Claude Code, repositories become scaffolding that Claude can build upon rather than finished products.
When I found the Reddit and WhatsApp MCPs, I did not spend ages understanding their architecture or bother the authors to ask them to implement functionality specific to my intended usecase.
I simply asked Claude:
Research the underlying libraries and their full APIs. What features aren't being used? Suggest functionality that could be built.
This works because MCPs are usually wrappers around existing libraries or APIs. The WhatsApp MCP uses Whatsmeow, which defines what's actually possible.
Rather than being limited by what the MCP currently implements, Claude researches the underlying library's full API capabilities and suggests functionality that could be built within those constraints.
The New Workflow:
This workflow eliminates the traditional bottleneck of either implementing complex features yourself or waiting for maintainers to prioritize your specific use case, while giving Claude a solid foundation and established patterns to build upon.
None of this would be possible without the open source community. The maintainers who build these repositories, contributors who add features, and developers who create the underlying libraries are the real MVPs.